


Murphy's Law

by TechnicalMachine, TheHomestuckWhovian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lotor doesn't realize he's homesick, platonic all the way i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12392514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnicalMachine/pseuds/TechnicalMachine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: Murphy's Law:Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.Story of Lotor's life.





	Murphy's Law

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I don't know where this idea came from but uh...yeah...

"This satellite is home to the largest database of prisoner records in the Galra Empire," Lotor explained, pointing it out on the holo-map. "Every single prisoner of the Galra Empire has a copy of their documentation in the computer systems there, covering thousands of prisons, work camps, and even those held by the Druids in the gladiator pit. The Druids use it to locate and pull those they see fit for experimentation from their current holdings and transfer them to the gladiator pits, or to transfer those unfit for such to work camps. Thus, most Galra believe it is only a communication satellite. We can use the information here to locate potential allies or captured rebels."

Lotor would be the first to admit that wasn't his only reason to go to that satellite, but he still was annoyed by the suspicious glares from the Paladins of Voltron, who clearly didn't believe for a second that he was telling the truth.

He sighed. "Alright then. There is also-"

"No, stay on that satellite," the small green one, Pidge, called out. She ran up to the holo-map and zoomed in on the location, staring at it thoughtfully. "So you're saying that we could locate any prisoner of the Galra across the universe?"

He nodded.

Pidge looked at him and eyed him carefully. "Just so you know, if you are bullshitting us, I will kill you myself."

"Understood," Lotor responded politely, having no doubt that she actually would. Of all the Paladins, only the Princess herself seemed more passionate than Pidge. It was impressive but also terrifying to be on the receiving end of their fury, though Lotor would never admit being afraid.

Allura glared at Lotor, before telling Pidge, "We still need you and Matt to go with Hunk to retrieve something from our allies, Pidge."

"Allura, you know how important this is! This could be what we need to find-"

"If you are so insistent on working with Lotor however, I suppose I could allow it." The princess gave a smug look, knowing immediately that she had won.

Pidge made a disgusted face. "Yeah, you're right. Nevermind."

Rude.

"I could go by my-" Lotor began, knowing there would likely be an argument of people trying to get out of working with him.

"No!"

"Absolutely not!"

"Nope, no you aren't."

He pinched his brow in annoyance. Great. Spectacular. "Then I suppose I am going to sit here then?"

Allura scowled at him, before saying, "You will go, but not by yourself, and certainly not in your own ship." She turned to the Paladins. "Lance will go with you."

"What?!" Lance shouted, looking pissed. "Why do I have to babysit the royal brat?"

Lotor wondered if they usually discussed how much they hated certain people when the object of that hatred was literally _right there._

"Because of all of us here, including myself, you are the only person I can trust not to jeopardize the mission by murdering him," she told him quite plainly. "Unless you and Keith were simply faking your animosity towards each other initially?"

Lance groaned, muttering, "I didn't realize I was going to be punished for emotional maturity. Fine."

This was going to be a long trip, Lotor decided.

* * *

"You done complaining back there!" Lance called from his seat.

Lotor pressed a hand over his mouth to ensure that his last meal stayed right where it was supposed to before weakly responding, "I was after the first trick, thank you very much." He had even been forced to take his helmet off, since nothing was worse than vomit in a sealed suit.

He could see Lance smirk in the reflection of the window as he gave the console a light pat, remarking, "Nice job, girl."

Spectacular. Lotor's life just kept on getting better and better with every passing moment. Maybe next up on the list of travesties that made up his life he'd get crushed by just a random asteroid the moment he left the Red Lion. That would actually be the least painful thing he'd have to deal with, after becoming a wanted man personally pursued by his father and having two betrayals in a short period of time partially because of his own idiocy.

He supposed he deserved being trapped in a ship that hated him with a pilot that hated him at this point.

"Satellite is in sight."

Like a switch had been hit, Lance was suddenly serious. For a moment, Lotor was concerned.

Best not to question something good happening to him for once though.

He stood up and approached the front of the ship, looking through the window.

There was the satellite, looking fairly innocuous and meaningless. There were no physical features that really defined it as special or different from any other Galra communications satellite, but Lotor knew that the database it held was immensely important, to the Druids, to the Empire, and especially to the coalition.

He had his own use for that database, but he doubted anyone in the coalition would trust him if he told them why he was so eager to access it himself. They'd either think he was lying or that he was plotting against them.

Lance briefly looked in his direction. "Alright, I'm going to get us close enough to use our jetpacks to get in. Once we're in, I'll pick off the soldiers by the computers while you handle any that come at us, then you can activate the computer and get us situated. Understood?"

Lotor was going to argue, before realizing that was a fairly solid plan and that arguing for arguing's sake would not do him any favors if he wanted to be seen as a loyal member of the coalition. Instead, he simply nodded with understanding and put his helmet back on, making sure to hear the sound of it hissing before signaling to Lance that he was ready.

Within seconds, they were in deep space, shooting towards the satellite.

* * *

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Lance growled. "What the fuck did you do?!"

Lotor ignored him, still internally panicking over the sudden lockdown that had occurred when he had placed his hand on the activation panel. How the quiznak had they managed to make sure to set up the system where it would go into lockdown when he set his hand on the computer.

He looked at his hand and the realization hit him. He wasn't pure Galra. He was the only child remaining born to a Galra and Altean couple. The moment the system detected that he was Altean, it figured out who he was and went into lockdown to trap him.

"Quiznak," he muttered. "Father, you bastard."

Lance dragged one of the bodies to the side, grumbling, "I knew this was a bad idea but of course everyone sends me to do this shit. All because we got lucky and I actually worked pretty well with Keith. Well Keith didn't actively plot against us multiple times and have enough bad karma to send five people to Hell along with himself."

Lotor took a deep breath. Calm. Calm. Remain calm and collected. Acxa had shown him how to override a lockdown command before. He couldn't do anything if he panicked though.

He got to work quickly, making sure to recall Acxa's instructions as best as possible, before finally managing to stop the lockdown, sending out a message labeling it as a false alarm. He breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Alright, crisis is averted," Lotor remarked with relief, allowing himself to not have perfect posture for a moment. He looked at Lance and reminded him, "I need the chip drive to send all the files to the castle?"

"I'll handle it," Lance told him, shoving him aside and inserting the chip drive. They both watched as Pidge's unusual emblem appeared on screen, spinning as documents began transferring to the Castle.

"Hmm, I guess you aren't useless after all," Lotor remarked.

There was dead silence before Lance asked, "Excuse me?" His tone was dark and angrier than it had been before. Lotor could almost feel a chill up his spine.

"You are acting as Red Paladin until Keith returns, correct?" he asked. "You don't seem good for much else."

There was dead silence, and Lotor briefly wondered if he had stepped out of line when Lance spoke up.

"My team respects and cares for me. Which is more than you can say, huh?"

Lotor flinched at those words, but Lance clearly wasn't done.

"The only reason you are working with us is because you're such a manipulative bastard your own family and your team couldn't trust you. All of us know that, the moment it works out in your favor, you'll betray us faster than we can blink. Well I hope that, when you've gotten everything you wanted, you turn around and see how completely alone you are. Because people like you are the kind of people who will hurt everyone to get what they want, and eventually people realize it and leave them behind. So maybe before you start judging me and my position in Voltron, you should take a good look at yourself."

The computer beeped and Lance plucked the drive from the computer, while Lotor just stared at the screen, Lance's words still running through his brain.

Sharp, fierce denial started to make its way up, but he didn't have to look far to refute that. Just remembering Zethrid's last words to him were proof enough that Lance was correct.

"Lotor, lets go."

"Oh. Right." He straightened himself out, doing his best to return to his neutral expression.

_Don't let them see any sign that those words meant anything or people will think you are weak. Don't show weakness, no matter what._

Lotor was silent for the return flight.

* * *

Everyone was supposed to be asleep when Lotor headed for the control room, wanting to check the database. He needed to check it out, preferably when no one else was around.

It was rather unfortunate that he ran into the one person he wanted to see the least.

"What are you doing up?" Lance asked, giving him a suspicious look.

"I suppose I could ask you the same question," he answered stiffly, side-stepping to walk past Lance.

He was halfway down the hallway before he heard a reluctant sigh and footsteps following him.

"Sorry about earlier."

Lotor stopped walking, slightly take aback by the apology.

"It was entirely unprofessional and uncalled for," Lance continued. "I shouldn't have taken my anger and frustration out on you. We had a job to do."

Lotor hated what he was going to do next.

He turned and took a deep breath. Just say it and be done.

"I...apologize as well for my words," Lotor replied, barely audible strain in his voice at the apology. "I was not justified in insulting you or your position. It was wrong of me."

Why was apologizing so hard? Was it supposed to get easier with experience? He wasn't used to this.

Lance blinked then gave a small nod. "Thanks."

There was awkward silence for a moment before Lotor continued, "Shall we pretend this conversation never occured?"

"Yeah, lets do that."

* * *

Lotor pulled up a holoscreen and opened the database, before uploading a picture. He spared a glance around, making sure no one was in the control room before looking back at the picture.

It was a picture of himself, Acxa, Ezor, Zethrid, and...Narti. Ezor had insisted on taking it after their first successful mission together. Zethrid was posing to show off her muscles. Axca had a look of reluctant acceptance at getting her picture taken. Ezor, her face up close to the camera she was holding, was grinning happily. Narti had been scratching Kova behind the ears just as the picture had been taken. And Lotor was smiling neutrally.

_"Make sure to get a good shot, so everyone knows to fear my strength!"_

_"Zethrid, its just for the five of us."_

_"Do we really have to do this?"_

_"Yes! Look, even Lotor is going along with it."_

_"He always makes that face."_

_"...Guilty."_

_"Smile! ...Alright, lets look at it! Aw, Narti you look adorable in this picture."_

_"I guess it's pretty good."_

He blinked, shaking himself out of the memory and turned his attention back to the screen.

It would take too long to check all of them through the system, long enough that he might be discovered, so instead he simply started with Zethrid, running her face through the system. It took several minutes, but eventually a message telling him no match was found flashed on the screen.

He gave a small smile, sighing with relief. Wherever Zethrid was, she was away from his father's wrath, and was likely with Acxa and Ezor.

He hoped they were all safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh...this chapter...let's see how this goes?
> 
> ~~Did y'all enjoy emotionally constipated Lotor?~~


End file.
